->'''Mook''': Alright. Stay where you are and we'll shoot you!->'''Krillin''': Don't you mean ''or'' we'll shoot you'?->'''Mook''': We know what we said!--> -- ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''%% Please one quote only on the main page. Additional quotes can go the the sub-page.

The phrase "Stop Or I'll Shoot" embodies a common idea, popularized in fiction, that a police officer need only identify himself to a criminal suspect as an officer of the law, and that after this, if the suspect resists the officer, the officer is justified in containing the situation by any means he sees fit, up to and including deadly force.

This idea is flawed. In real life, police officers are required to use a reasonable amount of force, ideally the minimum necessary to contain a situation; they can't just begin shooting or swinging their nightsticks willy-nilly whenever a perp runs or tells them off, or even if a suspect fights back. Many, ''many'' lawsuits against police departments are grounded on the alleged use of "excessive force" and "PoliceBrutality". Indeed, since 1985, police are not allowed to shoot a fleeing suspect unless he or she can be shown to pose a threat of death or dangerous injury to others.

However, in Hollywood, the instant a person defies a police officer, he automatically forfeits any protection against the Long Arm. As mentioned, this can include shooting him (typically, but not always, [[OnlyAFleshWound in the leg]]). This is the reason SuicideByCop works so well in fiction (although, sadly, this has been used in real life as well).

Note that the police officer is justified in lethal force in some situations, as when a reasonably prudent person would conclude it was needed to save someone's life. So someone running away would not rise to this level, but someone driving away, and appearing to be ready to plow down someone in the street, would.

This is drifting toward DiscreditedTrope, as many current {{Police Procedural}}s depict cops using more realistic levels of force when needed; but it is by no means dead. Most often applied to {{Anti Hero}}es, whose willful use of excessive force is commonly met with disapproval from their peers or superiors, but it generally would ''not'' apply to military forces, a fascist state or other totalitarian regime, or to the BigBad and his Mooks, as these [[JustifiedTrope would be expected]] to more freely employ deadly force. Also, given the modern-day threat of terrorist attacks and suicide bombers, various military forces may interpret 'continuing to move towards them without stopping when demanded to' as a potentially lethal threat all by itself, especially in high-security facilities or areas at war, such as Iraq. So when the Marine gate guard says "Halt or I will fire!", it is very likely that he means ''exactly'' what he just said.

Occasionally used to demonstrate the badass level of whatever the cops are facing down when the villain does not stop and the cops do indeed shoot, only for it to have [[ImmuneToBullets negligible effect]].

This trope is a form of ArtisticLicenseLaw. Very often occurs together with mild variants of ArtisticLicenseGunSafety (i.e. nobody gets hurt). See also SuicideByCop, PutDownYourGunAndStepAway. If the target calls their bluff, see YouWouldntShootMe.----!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. After a scuffle with some child-nappers, Detective Oishi trains a gun on them as they're running away. He doesn't shoot them though, and when asked why he says something along the lines of "I can't shoot an unarmed man in the back while he runs away!"** The suspects even go so far as to pull out their guns and drop them on the ground before running. Noting this Oishi remarks they were probably professionals.* Ouka does this in ''KyouranKazokuNikki'' when someone reveals they were using MindControl on him.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]* In the first issue of ''ShadeTheChangingMan'', the cops don't even finish the sentence when they see Roger (Kathy's black boyfriend who she brought to the Deep South to met her parents) wrestling with Trent (white serial killer who had just knifed Kathy's parents to death) on the lawn; they shoot Roger. They were both covered in the same blood during the struggle, though Trent was more blood-splattered for good reason. Trent lampshades the injustice by mockingly complaining about the discrimination shown against ''[[ItsAllAboutMe himself]]''.** In a later issue, two cops question Shade while he's carting the bodies of a pair of hookers out of Times Square in a steamer trunk. The bodies turn out to be mannequins, but the cops find severed human fingers among the parts. When Shade tries to flee, they open fire before they've finished yelling the trope.* This phrase is repeated verbatim along with countless other deliberately cliche phrases in an issue of ''Comicbook/TooMuchCoffeeMan'' where he battles a supervillain with the actual name of Cliche.* ComicBook/{{Asterix}} runs into the AncientRome version when a centurion recognizes him as a wanted man and threatens, "Stop or I will put my pilum through your sternum!"[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]* Parodied in the largely forgettable Sylvester Stallone action-comedy ''Film/StopOrMyMomWillShoot''. (But not so forgettable here.)* An {{egregious}} example occurs in ''Film/TheGodfather Part II''. Michael Corleone has rival Hyman Roth assassinated at the airport. The assassin shoots Roth point-blank and is in turn shot in the back by police as he runs away. In a crowded airport. In full view of a dozen reporters with cameras.** Given the time in which the film is set, they probably ''were'' justified. A lot of states had "fleeing felon" laws justifying lethal force.** All the same, those police departments probably had rules against shooting where it was likely to cause additional harm to bystanders.* [[HandWave Hand-Waved]] Reversal: Film/JamesBond (and various imitators) is explicitly stated to have a "License To Kill".** The "00" (double 0) series of agents have a license to kill because they're ''government assassins''. That don't get to kill at random any more than the headsman of old could slaughter innocents. Instead, they're the ones called on when their political masters decide someone needs to die. The "license to kill" refers to having the prerogative to kill people ''other'' than his target in the midst of a mission.*** The questionable real-world value of this kind of approach is pointed out in the Daniel Craig version of ''Film/CasinoRoyale''; Bond's actions in pursuit of the bomb-maker are action-movie standard, but his boss frostily points out that Bond has caused a public diplomatic incident in order to kill someone who was just a hired gun, and that their opponent will now just hire another one.** Subverted in ''Film/{{Octopussy}}''. When General Orlov chases the train over the inner-German border on foot, one of the GDR border guards orders him to stop via megaphone. When he doesn't comply, another guard with an AK-47 immediately shoots him (before being motioned to stop by Gogol). This policy was infamously TruthInTelevision, by the way; the border was called the 'death strip' for a reason.* Subverted in ''Film/ReignOverMe''; a police officer threatens to shoot Adam Sandler's character (who's brandishing an unloaded revolver in the middle of the street), but it's only to distract him while his partner sneaks up from behind.* Subverted in ''Film/NewJackCity'' when the hero cop chases a young criminal through an extended ChaseScene and the cop ''never'' draws his gun. However, when the crook suddenly draws a gun, that is when the cop draws his own and shoots him down.* Parodied in ''Film/RoboCop1987''. During a demonstration of the ED-209 law enforcement mecha, a guy is asked to point a weapon at ED. He does, and ED orders him to drop his weapon and surrender, or it will count down from 10 and shoot the guy. The guy complies, drops his weapon, and surrenders. ED continues counting down to 0 and shoots the guy anyway.** It's a parody because the robot is ImmuneToBullets. Pointing a gun at a cop is a ''very'' good way to get yourself shot by a cop.* ''Film/TheFrenchConnection''. 'Popeye' Doyle guns down the EL assassin as he [[InTheBack turns to flee]], despite the fact that a) he's now unarmed, and b) Popeye couldn't have been sure the man was the same guy who'd taken a shot at him earlier, as there was little opportunity to get a clear look at his face.** But then again, it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as Popeye Eye Doyle is a CowboyCop.* [[Film/{{Fargo}} Margie]] captures Gaer Grimsrud by shooting him in the leg while he's fleeing from her. He had just thrown a heavy block of wood at her head, so it could be argued she was at least justified in pulling her gun to respond to assault with a weapon. Grimsrud's lawyer'll still have his work cut out for him at trial, though.... Then again she caught him feeding a body to a woodchipper, so she could argue he was a threat to the general public.* The first ''Film/{{Blade}}'' film takes this to particular extremes. A group of police officers shout "Freeze!" at Blade and then open fire on him before he has even moved, and a later group continues shooting at him with barely any warning (even bringing out an automatic rifle) while he is carrying a civilian. It's ''just'' about possible that these were police who were in the pocket of vampires, or that they recognised Blade as a wanted and dangerous criminal, but it is still a stretch.* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan''. Cops are very aggressive in this film and open fire on Spider-Man twice onscreen. The first time he was doing nothing but ''talking'' to the cop, and the cop almost accidentally killed the man Spider-Man had webbed up.** It could be assumed that the police officer was assuming Spiderman's webslingers were deadly weapons, and so therefore he felt justified in brandishing a weapon* In the original ''Film/TheMatrix'', just before the dramatic lobby shootout, the hordes of military Mooks position themselves behind columns with dramatic gun cocking. The head Mook then yells "Freeze!".** That was actually completely justified as Neo and Trinity, who were still holding their weapons and walking forward, had already murdered the first wave of guards. In fact, the heavily armed cops should probably be commended for still trying to resolve the situation without further bloodshed.* ''Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy''. British spy Jim Prideaux realises he's under surveillance and starts walking away. A Hungarian secret service agent races into the street, yelling for him to stop and firing a warning shot (which ends up in the head of an InnocentBystander). The other secret police agents start shouting at him to calm down, as the alley is already blocked off by the secret police, but the man puts a second bullet into Jim's back, much to the KGB's fury as they wanted him alive.* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet''. Nick Carter, an American private eye investigating in Prague, but cooperating with a local police commissioner, uses this phrase twice when he's chasing a suspect. The suspect is at that point confirmed to be helping The Gardener, who is a mysterious criminal master mind, responsible for the disappearance Nick is investigating and they know they plan a murder. While going after him, he accidentally meets his LoveInterest who doesn't know he's a detective, and he tells her that he's playing a game of "Cops & Robbers" with a friend.* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Film/DemolitionMan'' when the police first approach [[BigBad Simon Phoenix]]. The first command is "Simon Phoenix, lay down, on the ground, with your hands behind your back." Simon responds with "[[DeadpanSnarker Oh, I'm so scared!]]" The cop follows with "Lie down, on the ground... Or ELSE!" There was no "or else" to fall back on. The police in the ultra-peaceful San Angeles not only didn't have guns to shoot with, they didn't have proper training or even ''procedures'' to deal with violent criminals. Nevermind complete psychopaths.* ''Film/BonnieAndClyde''. The OutlawCouple are gunned down without warning in a police ambush -- this was TruthInTelevision. It should be noted that Barrow had shot his way out of several previous attempts to capture him, and his gang had killed nine lawman and several civilians during their crime spree.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* In ''Fool Moon'', book two of Literature/TheDresdenFiles, Harry is shot at by FBI agents as he flees arrest. [[LampshadeHanging As they are shooting at him he explicitly thinks about how they are]] ''[[LampshadeHanging not]]'' [[LampshadeHanging supposed to be allowed to shoot him for fleeing]]. [[spoiler: [[JustifiedTrope It turns out the agents are actually the villains of the book, and have been planing for several chapters to kill him and frame him for their own crimes]].]]* Justified in ''HarrisonBergeron'' in that it is said in an oppressive dystopia, and the speaker has an insane amount of power.* In Creator/AndreiBelyanin's ''[[Literature/TsarGorokhsDetectiveAgency Tsar Gorokh's Detective Agency]]'' series, the main character is a modern-day cop transported into a fairy-tale tsardom, where he is asked to become a detective of sorts, as his skillset is unknown to them. Many times throughout the series he attempts to instill in the locals modern law enforcement practices with mixed results. One of these is for his squad of streltsy (guards in old Russia) to fire a warning shot before shooting a suspect. The sotnik (equivalent of captain) of the streltsy complains that it takes forever to reload their primitive hand cannons, which will allow the suspect to get away. The cop settles for "StopOrIWillShoot" instead.* ''The39Clues'' Isabel Kabra. [[spoiler: Only, it's more like, start obeying me again, son, or I'll shoot your sister. And she does, but in the foot and only as a warning.... And then she threatens to shoot practically everybody.]]** Plus, she's not a cop- just a [[RichBitch mega-rich evil lady]] capable of probably bribing cops into not arresting her. [[spoiler: Except for in Book 10. :)]]* Subverted in one of the RogueWarrior novels. One of the characters is a former cop who yells for a man, later revealed to be a bodyguard, to surrender during a hostage rescue on a plane. Problem is, the rescue team are SEALS. They're not meant to shout "Freeze motherfucker or name your beneficiary," anyone waving a gun about during a firefight is fair game, and despite the officer's efforts the innocent bodyguard was gunned down.* In ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'', one of the cops interviewed for the book describes how, when he was younger, he was involved in a pursuit of a known criminal and pulled this trope, firing a warning shot into the air -- and the criminal, who the cop knew previously, was genuinely shocked and shaken that the cop had fired 'at' him. The cop discussed how he was chastened enough to never pull this trick again.* Subverted in ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. Clarice ''not'' being able to do this is why she has to chase Buffalo Bill into his basement. When she pulls her gun on him he just flees the room and she can't shoot him.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]* Counter-example: the docu-drama series ''Series/{{Cops}}''. If you watched about fifteen cops wrestle down a large, uncooperative, but unarmed suspect, and wondered why someone didn't just whip out a club and [[TapOnTheHead knock the guy out]], the answer is that it's not allowed.** In one of the earlies episodes a rookie cop, more or less says the trope title ("Stop or I'll shoot you in the back") he has never heard the end of this.* Parodied in an episode of ''{{Bones}}''. "Stop, or I'll... kick you in the testicles!"* DoublySubverted in new ''Series/DoctorWho'': Villain is about to kill an innocent. Doctor threatens Villain. Villain kills innocent. Doctor does nothing until Villain threatens a Named Character.* Parodied in ''Series/{{Community}}''; when deputized as a temporary campus security officer, Annie tries this on a fleeing suspect. She quickly learns the hard way that when all of you have is a pepper spray, this threat is a lot less effective... and that if you try 'shooting' the suspect, all you end up doing is running straight into a cloud of pepper spray.* Averted in ''Series/{{Copper}}'' because the show is set in 1864 New York and the police of the time do not bother with niceties like identifying themselves before they open fire. When the protagonists ambush a group of bank robbers they open fire first and then offer the lone survivor a chance to surrender.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]* Averted in ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' games where several {{Sourcebook}}s give guidelines on standard police procedure when facing suspects. Given that its [[CrapsackWorld the World Of]] ''[[CrapsackWorld Darkness]]'', a player can assume that if a cop fulfills this trope then there's a good chance he's corrupt or being manipulated.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]* ''TheSoundOfMusic'' has one of these with the one daughter's boyfriend who joined ThoseWackyNazis...he tells the family to stop, and the Captain replies he hasn't got the guts to do it. The result is a standoff with the Captain trying to get him to turn over the gun, and the boy eventually yelling "they're here!"[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* Pretty much any video game where enemies include police or security guards; these will invariably [[SimultaneousWarningAndAction shoot first and ask questions never]].** Notable Exception: ''SWAT4'' has you playing the role of, well, a SWAT team (special police). Players have access to a large amount of nonlethal weapons and you get a lot of points knocked off for 'Unauthorized Use of Force' - shooting without shouting for compliance (ie. "Hands up!") unless they've already pointed a gun at an officer or a hostage - which is an open invitation to shoot first for the sake of you, your squad, or the hostage. The game is at its most fun when you mercilessly attack with tasers, paintball guns, and beanbag shotguns. Especially as less-lethal force isn't penalized.*** The negligently unaggressive police A.I. sometimes makes you wish your SWAT teammates ''would'' shoot on sight, though, since you often get low points on a mission because one of your teammates told a suspect to surrender, and the suspect responded with a shotgun blast to the officer's face, costing you both an officer and 20% of the mission score. Your SWAT teammates won't fire unless fired upon even if you equip them with less-lethal stun weapons (i.e. tasers or pepper spray).**** This is only the case in SWAT 4. In SWAT 3, your officers are much more likely to shoot a suspect if he's so much as holding a gun, let alone pointing it at them or shooting it. That said, they will immediately stop shooting at the suspect if he drops his gun and surrenders, assuming they missed.** An interesting aversion to this occurs in the more recent ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games. When the player character gets a single wanted star, police officers will approach and attempt to subdue and arrest the player nonlethally, ''unless'' the character has drawn a firearm. At that point they open fire. Progressing to a second star, which generally involves inflicting significant property damage or killing civilians/police, will result in the police simply opening fire and keep on shooting until you're dead.* Averted in {{Sierra}}'s ''PoliceQuest'' game series. Produced by real-life police officers, the games require you to follow proper police procedure (don't worry, it's AllThereInTheManual). Failure to do so will give you an abrupt game over.** Not always an immediate game over, though. In some cases, seemingly minor infractions will go unpunished, only to show up later. Example: in the first game, taking a criminal to jail requires you to lock up your gun in a gun locker outside, for safety. Failure to do so will still allow you to get access to the jail, but as soon as you uncuff the suspect to escort him to his cell, he'll take your gun and kill you.* Mostly averted in ''{{Postal}} 2'' -- the cops will shout this if you commit a crime and run away, but won't actually shoot unless you pull out a weapon.** However, if a civilian NPC is caught committing a crime, the cops will chase them down and beat them to death, even if they drop their weapon and try to run away.*** This is because there is no arrest mechanic for [=NPCs=] (the player arrest mechanic being a simple fade-to-black then restart at the police station). Same thing applies to the later ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games, the ones where the cops actually care about criminals other than the player.* In the Junkyard of ''VideoGame/FullThrottle'' this is used by the local cops, although it quickly turns out to be BlatantLies- but thanks to ATeamFiring, the hero gets away.* Played straight for ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto''. Alright, the way most people play, the cops would be perfectly justified in shooting at your character. Sometimes though, it's less justified, especially when you're comitting non-violent crimes, they'll still shoot.** In the third and fourth installation, the cops actually won't fire a single bullet at you at one star. Anything above that though, and they open fire. Less justified than it sounds though in the fourth: if they catch up to you and you keep running instead of letting them arrest you, you'll get another star and they'll shoot you in the back. Which is actually merciful in that one. You lose all your weapons if arrested, but this is the first one that lets you keep your arsenal after [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist visiting the hospital]].* Averted in ''Mafia: City of Lost Heaven''. The cops will ticket you for minor infractions (running a red light), and attempt to arrest you for major infractions (running over a civilian). Running away from the cops will raise a fine-level infraction to an arrest-level infraction, but they still won't use violence against you. It's only when you physically threaten them (i.e. slam your car into theirs, or fire a weapon) that they actually start shooting (as well as trying to run you over).* The Imperial Stormtroopers in the VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga have a tendency to loudly yell out "Stop or I'll shoot!" or "You're under arrest!" while simultaneously opening fire on you with their blasters.* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the Vault Overseer orders you to surrender or be killed. If you do surrender, he takes your gun and shoots you in the face with it. Nice guy.* From ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Imperishable Night]]'':-->'''Marisa:''' Move and I'll shoot! ...I messed up. I mean, shoot and I'll move. In a flash.* The "Blues" in ''MirrorsEdge'' mostly just shout something like "There she is!" and open fire, but at some points in the game they follow this trope to the letter.* A rare, none firearm related example can be found in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. Upon the acquisition of a bounty, guards will confront the player, and give him a choice of paying the fine, going to jail and losing skill points, or "resist arrest"--basically not cooperating. If the player chooses to resist arrest, regardless of whether he's armed or not, fighting back or running away, the guards will attempt to either snipe at him with arrows or run him through with a sword. The player can still surrender at any time and receive the same three options again. The guards don't seem to have the slightest of interests in incapacitating and incarcerating the player, and seem perfectly happy to merely bleed the player to death instead. [[FridgeLogic This would also explain why various prisons around Cyrodil are so empty...]]** This is more justified than other examples though, given the Middle Age-esque setting of the game series.* ''VideoGame/JudgeDreddDreddVsDeath'' had a system where you were encouraged to try and take criminals in alive by ordering them to stop and then disarming/wounding them. You're not particularly punished for killing someone engaged in a firefight with you, unless you kill someone who has surrendered or use your Lawgiver's incendiary rounds on perps.* Averted and called out in LANoire by Cole Phelps. If you're chasing down a suspect with your gun drawn, you can aim at the running suspect to fire a warning shot into the air, and Cole will tell the suspect to stop or he will shoot them. However, if you actually shoot them you fail the case and have to start from the last checkpoint.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]* Played with in ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'': "Slow down before we shoot again!" translates roughly to "Stop AND we'll shoot!"* ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' has the [[SpacePolice Triple-I]] shouting [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2009/06/27/freeze/ "Freeze, Spacer!"]] as they surround Nin Wah. They also give a [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2010/01/31/bad-choice-of-words/ "Stop and drop your shields"]] variant when surrounding CK's ship...[[PoliceAreUseless after they remember what their name stands for]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]* Subverted in ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' season one, when David Jackson tries this on a [[AxCrazy crazed]] and paranoid Andrew Klock who is steadily advancing on his group. [[TooDumbToLive Andrew ignores his warnings]], even when David pulls out his gun and points it at his head, and eventually breaks into a full on charge. This causes David to panic and pull the trigger, shooting Andrew right between the eyes.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* MickeyMouse, of all characters, pulls this on DonaldDuck in the short ''SymphonyHour''!* Also subverted in the animated ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' cartoon:-->'''Cops:''' Stop and we'll shoot!-->'''Dilbert:''' Stop ''and'' we'll shoot? If you're going to shoot, why should we stop?-->'''Cop:''' The targets at the firing range don't move.-->'''Cop:''' Hold your fire, he's running...* In one episode of ''TheSimpsons'' they shot at Bart with shotguns for not going to Ralph's birthday party.** In TheMovie they shot at Bart for skateboarding naked, parodying how FCC\MPAA\etc are much more lax towards violence than nudity\sex.* In TheBoondocks, Uncle Ruckus is told by police officers to get out of his truck and show them I.D. even though he was doing nothing and in fact was the one that ''called them''. Even though Ruckus fully cooperated, and told the officers what he was doing, when he pulled out his wallet, a cop shouted "GUN!!!" and they [[MoreDakka opened fire]]. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy They missed]]. Then he tried to pull out a ''spare'' '''safety orange''' wallet. Cue another "GUN!!!" and Ruckus being brutally beaten by Night sticks.* Used in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' where ComicBook/{{Metamorpho}} has just accidentally caused a truck to crash. The cops tell him to freeze, and when he puts his hands up, they shoot a rocket launcher at him.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]* A Russian anecdote subverts this trope. "Stop, I'll shoot!" "Stopping!" "Shooting!"* Firearms instructor Massad Ayoob relates how he was told by officers in one police department that they had the statutory authority to shoot a fleeing suspect. As there'd been an outcry in a neighbouring department over just such an incident, Ayoob decided to speak to their District Attorney, who replied: "Yes, they have the legal authority to shoot, but that doesn't mean they won't get in a shitload of trouble if they do."* RobinWilliams, during his performance at the Met, covered this trope with a few different types of cops:** L.A. cops: "Stop, or I'll shoot!"** West Hollywood cops: "Stop! Those shoes don't go with those pants!"** Cops in London: "The police don't have a gun, and you don't have a gun, so it's "Stop!...or I'll say stop again!"* Any statute in the US that allows police to do this in any circumstance is automatically unconstitutional. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_v._Garner See Tennessee v. Garner]] Such deadly force is only valid if "the suspect threatens the officer with a weapon or there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm . . . if, where feasible, some warning has been given."** That said, don't think the rules apply the same way towards ''Military Police''. While they have many of the same restrictions on use of force when not on the battlefield, there is a short list of things that ''will'' get you shot quickly, such as threatening a human life (the soldier or a bystander), or threatening highly important strategic assets, such as nuclear weapons, The President, or certain facilities. Mind you, they tend not to keep those strategic assets just lying around, so you will really have to ''try'' if you are going to approach them.*** There was an incident in Arizona where two teenage car thieves, trying to evade the cops, took a wrong turn and went barreling through the security gate at an Air Force base. The guards, having no way of knowing what the intentions were of the occupants of the speeding car evidently trying to force its way into a secured military installation, opened fire on the car and killed one of the occupants.* This is standard operating procedure in Singaporean army camps, where two stops ''"Stop!"'' separated by a paused, then ''"Stop or I will shoot!"'' are being shouted to someone with hostile intent charging the camp guard.** Generations of British servicemen and women who did at least one tour of duty in [[TheTroubles Northern Ireland]] will know the above as ''"the Yellow Card Warning"'', to allow you to demonstrate in court afterwards that you gave the perp every opportunity to lower their weapon and surrender before you opened fire.* This sort of behavior was the basis of the scandal involving Seattle police officer Ian Birk, who shot and killed a Native American woodcarver named John T. Williams he believed was brandishing a knife. However, the dashcam from his police car, while not showing the actual shooting, did demonstrate that there were mere seconds between Birk seeing Williams walking along the street and Williams being shot dead, making it unlikely Williams could even have had the opportunity to do anything threatening. The case was resolved by an internal review declaring the shooting unjustified, and Birk resigned from the force, however no charges were brought against him.* Played straight, but also subverted, at the Berlin Wall. Played horribly straight, as East German border guards were ordered to use lethal force to stop people from crossing the border illegally. More 100 than people, including pre-teen children, were killed while trying to escape East Germany. Later subverted in that many of the perpetrators were tried and sentenced by the reunified Germany for ordering or carrying out the shootings.* The same thing is still happening in North Korea. Anyone attempting to cross the border to escape North Korea, whether they're headed for South Korea or even China, would be shot right away.[[/folder]]----